Solving the Somerton Beach Mystery or Not

On the morning of December 1, 1948, the body of a man was discovered on Somerton Beach near Adelaide, South Australia. He was slumped against the seawall, legs crossed, dressed neatly in a suit and polished shoes—odd for a summer morning by the sea. No sign of struggle or injury was found. A half-smoked cigarette lay on his collar. He carried no wallet, no ID, and even the labels had been cut from his clothing.

The authorities initially assumed natural causes, possibly a heart attack or stroke. But as days passed with no one coming forward to claim the body, suspicions grew. When the autopsy revealed no definitive cause of death and no trace of common poisons, the case turned from unfortunate to unsettling. For over seven decades, the case would remain one of the greatest mysteries in Australian criminal history—until a surprising break came in 2022.

A Puzzle of Clues

One early lead was a train ticket found in the man’s pocket, purchased but unused, for a trip to Henley Beach. Days later, investigators located a brown suitcase checked into the Adelaide Railway Station’s cloakroom the day before the body was found. Inside the suitcase: clothing with all tags removed, a shaving kit, and an unusual orange thread not sold in Australia—matching thread used to mend his trousers.

A hidden pocket in the waistband of the dead man’s pants contained a tiny rolled-up piece of paper. On it: the words “Tamam Shud,” Persian for “ended” or “finished.” The phrase came from the final page of a rare edition of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, a collection of philosophical poems about the fleeting nature of life and living without regret.

A local man then came forward, claiming to have found such a book tossed in the back seat of his unlocked car, parked near Somerton Beach, around the time of the man’s death. Tucked in the back of the book were two pieces of compelling evidence: a handwritten code and a phone number.

The Code and the Nurse

The code—an arrangement of seemingly random letters—has never been definitively solved, despite extensive attempts by professional and amateur cryptographers. Some believe it to be a cipher, perhaps a military code or personal shorthand.

The phone number led to a former nurse named Jessica Thomson, who lived just blocks from where the body was found. She claimed not to know the man, but her reaction to the police busting out a plaster cast of his face was reportedly so emotional and disturbed that it raised suspicions.

Jessica had once given a copy of the Rubaiyat to a man named Alfred Boxall during World War II. Initially, authorities believed the dead man might be Boxall, until they located him alive and well, still in possession of the copy she had inscribed to him. That was another dead end.

Theories Abound

Theories exploded over the years. Some claimed the man was a heartbroken lover who committed suicide. Others speculated he was a Cold War spy. The presence of rare materials, such as the orange thread and a type of wax found on the suitcase items, seemed to support a covert background.

Witness reports from the night before added further complications. Several beachgoers had seen a man lying in the same position the night before, assuming he was drunk. One late witness, coming forward years later, even claimed to have seen a man carrying another man’s body across the beach in the early hours of the morning—possibly placing the Somerton Man’s death elsewhere.

Yet despite global attention, artistic tributes, documentaries, and an ongoing fascination with his haunting death mask, the identity of the man remained a complete mystery. Over 250 men were suggested as possible matches. All were eliminated.

A Breakthrough in 2022

In July 2022, after decades of dead ends, forensic genealogist Derek Abbott and American expert Colleen Fitzpatrick announced they had identified the man using DNA extracted from hair preserved in the plaster bust made in 1949.

Their research pointed to Carl “Charles” Webb, an electrical engineer and instrument maker born in 1905 in Victoria, Australia. He had no known connection to Adelaide, but his estranged wife had moved there after their separation. It’s plausible Webb had traveled to Adelaide in an attempt to find her.

No death certificate was ever issued for him, and none of his family members had reported him missing. His background included an interest in literature and, intriguingly, chemical patents—possibly connecting him to poisoning theories, although no toxic agent was ever found.

Why the Mystery Endured

Thousands of unidentified bodies have passed through morgues without gaining the same notoriety. What set the Somerton Man apart?

Part of it was timing: a mysterious death during the dawn of the Cold War, a period thick with espionage paranoia. The strange circumstances—like the code, the exotic phrase, and the nurse who may have known more than she admitted—captured the public’s imagination.

But it was also his face. The wax bust, with its furrowed brow and intense gaze, inspired decades of interest. Amateur detectives, online sleuths, and conspiracy theorists have all tried to crack the mystery. Some clung to the idea that the code was unbreakable because it was never meant to be broken by anyone but one person.

Closure—But Not All Answers

The identification of Carl Webb finally closed one chapter of the case. His name, life, and background are now part of the historical record. But many questions remain unanswered. How did he die? Why did he go to Somerton Beach? Was it suicide, murder, or something stranger?

While science has given us a name, it hasn’t given us the full story. The mystery of why Carl Webb died alone and anonymously on a beach will likely remain unsolved. His grave in Adelaide was recently updated to reflect his name, but for many, he will always be remembered as the Somerton Man—one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of true crime.